Today is Wednesday; 3rd of the Iranian month of Khordad 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 27th of the Islamic month of Sha’ban 1438 lunar hijri; and May 24, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1087 lunar years ago, on this day in 351 AH, Hassan ibn Mohammad al-Muhallabi, the literary patron and able vizier of the founder of the Iranian Buwaiyhid Dynasty of Iran-Iraq-Oman, Moiz od-Dowla Daylami, passed away in Oman during a military expedition at the age of 65. The Buwaiyhids were devout followers of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny). Hassan was one of the last members to achieve renown from the famous clan of the Muhallabids that traced its lineage back nine generations to the army commander Muhallab ibn Abu Sufra, who despite being the son of Abu Sufra – the loyal Omani supporter of Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) – changed sides, along with his opportunistic sons, as per the political situation between the Omayyads, the Zubayrids, and later the Abbasids, and suffered ignominious ends. Hassan al-Muhallabi, who was master of both the Arabic and Persian languages, started life as an administrator in Ahvaz, who on catching the attention of the Buwaiyhid vizier, Abu Ja’far Saimuri, became attached to the court of Moez od-Dowla, and later on his patron’s death succeeded him as vizier. He was an accomplished poet as well.

1072 lunar years ago, on this day in 366 AH, Naseer od-Din Sabuktigin, a former Turkic slave, was made governor of Ghazni by his ex-owner and governor of Khorasan, Alptigin – himself an emancipated Turkic slave of the Iranian Samanid dynasty of Bukhara. Amir Nuh II Samani confirmed the appointment. Born in Barskon in what is today Kyrgyzstan, as a 12-year old, he was taken prisoner by a neighbouring warring tribe and sold to a merchant named Haji Nasr, from whom he was purchased by Alptigin and became fully Persianized. When Alptigin rebelled against the Samanids, capturing Zabulistan and Ghazna, he raised Sebuktigin to the position of a general and gave his daughter in marriage to him. Sabuktigin, on the death of Alptigin, served his two successors Ishaq and Balkatigin, before seizing the rule of Ghazna. Soon afterwards, on the decline of the Samanid power, he became virtually independent. He expanded his realm after defeating Jayapala to cover the territory as far as the Neelum River in Kashmir and the Indus River in what is now Pakistan. In the north he took Balkh and in the west Helmand from the Samanids. On his death, after a 20-year rule, he was succeeded by his younger son Ismail, who was soon removed by his elder son, Mahmoud Ghaznavi, who greatly expanded the realm and took the title of Sultan. Of unsound religious belief, Sabuktigin repressed both Shi’ite and Sunni Muslims, and committed the unpardonable sin of destroying the holy shrine in Mashhad of Imam Reza (AS), the 8^th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny).

948 lunar years ago, on this day in 490 AH, the prominent Islamic scholar, Abu'l-Hassan Ali Ibn Zaid Bayhaqi, popularly known as “Ibn Funduq” and "Fareed-e Khorasan", was born in the city of Bayhaq in northeastern Iran, which later became Sabzevar. An expert in hadith, theology, literature, mathematics, and philosophy, his most important book is "Ma'arej Nahj al-Balagha", a commentary on the famous compilation of the eloquent sermons, letters, and maxims of Imam Ali (AS). In Persian he authored “Tarikh-e Bayhaq” giving geographical and dynastic details of the region. Among his books, mention can also be made of “Lubaab al-Ansaab” on genealogy of notable figures. He passed away in the year 565 AH.

666 solar years ago, on this day in 1351 AD, Abu’l-Hassan Ali ibn Othman, the sultan of the Marinid dynasty of Morocco who liberated Gibraltar from the Christian Castilian occupation, died in exile in Fez in the High Atlas Mountains at the age of 54 after a reign of 17 years. In North Africa he extended his rule over Tlemcen and Ifriqiya, which together covered the north of what is now Algeria and Tunisia. Under him the Marinid realms in the Maghreb briefly covered an area that rivaled that of the preceding al-Muwahhidin or Almohad Empire. He was forced to return from Spain due to a revolt of Arab tribes, but was shipwrecked, and lost many of his supporters. His son Abu Inan Faris seized power in Fez.

612 lunar years ago, on this day in 826 AH, the Shafei jurist and judge, Wali od-Din Ahmad bin Abdur-Rahim al-Misri Ibn Iraqi, passed away at the age of 54 in his homeland Egypt, and was buried beside his father, Zain od-Din Iraqi. He studied and taught in Damascus, Bayt ol-Moqaddas, Cairo, and the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. He has left behind a number of books.

474 solar years ago, on this day in 1543 AD, the Polish astronomer, Nicolaus Copernicus, died at the age of 70. After learning of scientific facts from the Latin translation of Arabic books written by Islamic scholars, he was the first European to boldly speak of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun.

391 solar years ago, on this day in 1626 AD, the native Amerindians of Manhattan Island, were hoodwinked and deceived by Peter Minuit, the Director of Germany origin of the Dutch colony of New Netherland or what is now New York State, to sell their land for a hotchpotch of European trinkets worth only a paltry amount of 60 guilders or 23 dollars. The original inhabitants of the area were unfamiliar with the European notions and definitions of ownership rights. For the Indians, water, air and land could not be traded. Such exchanges would also be difficult in practical terms because many native groups migrated between their summer and winter quarters. It can be concluded that the Amerindians went home with totally different interpretations of the so-called sales agreement that was nothing but deceit on the part of the white invaders from Europe to deprive them of them of their ancestral lands.

331 solar years ago, on this day in 1686 AD, German-Dutch physicist and inventor of the thermometer, Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, was born. He lived in Holland most of his life, and in 1714 invented the mercury thermometer by developing the Fahrenheit temperature scale. For the zero of his scale he used the temperature of an equal ice-salt mixture; 30° for the freezing point of water; and 90° for normal body temperature. Later, he adjusted to 32° for the freezing point of water and 212° for the boiling point of water, the interval between the two being divided into 180 parts. He died in 1736 at the age of 50 years.

195 solar years ago, on this day in 1822 AD, Ecuador gained independence from Spanish colonial rule after three centuries, because of the efforts of the famous Venezuelan revolutionary leader, Simon Bolivar. Ecuador covers an area of 283,000 sq km. It is situated northwest of South America and lies on the coastlines of Pacific Ocean. It shares borders with Peru and Columbia.

172 lunar years ago, on this day in 1266 AH, the British agent, Mohammad Ali Bab was executed by a firing squad in Tabriz at the age of 31 on being found guilty of “spreading corruption on earth” for his blasphemous claim to be the imam, then a prophet and finally the divine manifestation (mazhar-e ilahi) with a new creed in replacement of Islam. Born in Shiraz to an obscure father, and initiated into the deviant Shaykhi cult, he stirred up sedition all around by first styling himself “Bab” or gateway to the Lord of the Age, Imam Mahdi (AS), then the Awaited Imam himself, later the incarnation of the Prophets Elijah and John the Baptist and eventually the godhead. After repeated renunciations of his beliefs whenever he was arrested, he reverted to his devilish designs to mislead the people, prompting the able Qajarid minister Mirza Mohammad Taqi Khan Amir Kabir who strove to make Iran free of the Anglo-Russian plots, to order his arrest and trial. After execution his body was thrown into the ditch near the barracks where it was eaten up by dogs.

117 solar years ago, on this day in 1900 AD, during the Second Boer War, Britain annexed to its colony of South Africa the Orange Free State, which was an independent Boer sovereign republic in southern Africa. Its name derives partly from the Orange River, which in turn was named in honour of the Dutch ruling royal family, the House of Orange, by the Dutch settlers under Robert Jacob Gordon. The official language in the Orange Free State was Dutch.

111 lunar years ago, on this day in 1327 AH, the Gnostic Ayatollah Mirza Habibollah Mujtahid Khorasani, passed away at the age of 61 near his hometown, holy Mashhad. He was a product of the Islamic seminary of holy Najaf in Iraq, and after returning to Iran settled in Mashhad where he handled religious affairs and groomed students. He was an excellent poet, as is evident by his poems on gnosis.

87 solar years ago, on this day in 1930 AD, the name "Pluto" was chosen and announced by Roger Lowell Putnam, trustee of Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, Arizona, for the newly-discovered ninth planet of the solar system called Planet X by its discoverer Clyde Tombaugh on 13 March the same year.

35 solar years ago, on this day in 1982 AD, the southwestern Iranian city of Khorramshahr was liberated from the yoke of the Ba’thist invaders by Iran's Muslim combatants in the heroic Bayt al-Moqaddas Operations, after a year and 8 months of occupation. It was a decisive victory that completely turned the tide of the imposed war against Saddam, thereby shattering the equations of his backers in the West and the East, including the Arab reactionary regimes of the Persian Gulf, which had bankrolled his aggression on Islamic Iran. This historic event is marked every year as “The Day of Resistance and Victory”.

26 solar years ago, on this day in 1991 AD, the Zionist entity illegally settled 14,400 Ethiopian Jews in occupied Palestine. But, these black Jews are faced with numerous economic and social discriminations in Israel, and merely treated as cheap labour.

25 solar years ago, on this day in 1992 AD, Serbian forces confined over 3,000 Bosnian Muslims and Croats in inhuman conditions at the Keraterm prison camp. Damir Dosen served as a shift commander at the Keraterm prison camp in northwestern Bosnia. Detainees were killed, sexually assaulted and beaten. In 1999 Dragan Kulundzija, a former shift commander at Keraterm, was arrested on charges of killing and torturing prisoners. In 1999 Dosen was arrested for war crimes and flown to Hague for trial.

24 solar years ago, on this day in 1993 AD, Eritrea in Northeastern Africa, gained independence from Ethiopia. Between the two World Wars it was briefly occupied by Italy. Eritrea lies on the coastlines of the Red Sea. It covers an area of almost 117,000 square km, and shares borders with Ethiopia, Sudan, and Djibouti.

17 solar years ago, on this day in the year 2000 AD, Zionist occupation troops were forced to retreat from southern Lebanon and the so-called Southern Lebanese Army made up of Christian mercenaries disintegrated due to the resistance and steadfastness of Lebanese people, led by the legendry anti-terrorist movement, Hezbollah. It was the first defeat of Israel in its confrontation with popular and Islamic forces inspired by the Islamic Revolution of Iran.

12 solar years ago, on this day in 2005 AD, Iranian poet Mohammad Reza Aqasi, passed away at the age of 46. Born in Tehran, he is famous for his “Mathnavi” or Long Ode on the history of the Shi’a Muslims and the Ahl al-Bayt or Blessed Household of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). He also wrote excellent poetry on the heroics of Iran’s Muslim combatants on the battlefields of the 8-year war imposed by the US on the Islamic Republic through Saddam of Iraq’s repressive Ba’th minority regime.

6 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, in India, representatives of eight countries with large wild elephant populations pledged to eradicate poaching of the animals and smuggling of ivory to ensure their survival for future generations. The "Elephant 8 Ministerial Meet" included officials from Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Botswana, Congo, Kenya and Tanzania. The elephant which is the largest living quadruped on earth is often the target of poachers for its tusks claimed to have aphrodisiac qualities, besides the prized ivory from which handicrafts are carved. In ancient times, elephants were used as war machines to intimidate and frighten rival armies. Today in many countries, the elephant, beside its use as a beast of burden, is trained as a riding animal on which processions are taken out, including religious, such as the famous Ashura mourning procession on the 10^th of Moharram in Hyderabad, India, where the "alam" or banner of Imam Husain (AS) is carried on an elephant, behind which rows upon rows of mourners march, beating their chests in grief for the tragic martyrdom of the grandson of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny). 

AS/ME